Supreme Court Takes Up Delhi-NCR Rape Cases, Flags Nirbhaya Parallels

The Supreme Court has initiated proceedings on its own motion in connection with a series of rape cases reported from Delhi and the surrounding National Capital Region in recent weeks, observing that the incidents echo the 2012 Nirbhaya case in deeply troubling ways.

A bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala said the reports of these crimes pointed to a systemic breakdown on the part of law enforcement and public administrative authorities in ensuring basic public safety. Public spaces such as parks and buses, the bench said, cannot be permitted to turn into high-risk zones because of inadequate lighting, poor surveillance and the absence of other administrative safeguards.

Among the cases the court has taken note of is the gang-rape of a minor on a sleeper bus. The incident was reported in August, when a teenager travelling from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh to Noida was allegedly gang-raped on a moving bus. The berths on the sleeper bus were covered by curtains, which the accused are said to have exploited, and the vehicle did not have a functioning CCTV system — a requirement mandated by law in the wake of the 2012 case.

Separately, a 17-year-old girl who had left home to visit south Delhi's Kalkaji Mandir on her birthday was gang-raped in a nearby park by men who posed as policemen.

Justice Pardiwala observed that merely expressing solidarity is not sufficient and that accountability must be fixed, adding that one cannot help but draw painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012.

That case involved the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in Delhi and her subsequent death, which triggered nationwide protests. It led to amendments expanding the definition of sexual offences and enhancing punishments for crimes against women. Of the six accused, one was a juvenile and one died in jail, while the remaining four were hanged at Delhi's Tihar Jail.